This disc shows some of Gavin Bryars’ compositions for piano.
The first two works are for solo piano, and the third is for
piano, choir and orchestra.

After Handel’s Vesper, a 1995 work, is played here on
piano, though it was written for harpsichord. There is some
beautiful, subtle music at the beginning of this piece, with
light melodic touches and a great deal of space, which would
sound odd on the harpsichord with its quicker decay. The work
has a number of discrete sections, some that recall a minimalist
style, and others that hark back to the baroque with a fair
amount of ornamentation. At times this piece almost sounds like
an improvisation; the melodic material is simple and undeveloped,
almost uninteresting.

Ramble on Cortona was Bryars’ first composition for piano,
oddly enough, and was composed in 2010. Bryars, for some reason,
has never written for this instrument before, and this piece
is based on some themes from a recent vocal work of his, Laude,
which is, in turn, based on some 13th century manuscripts discovered
in Cortona, Italy. It is slow and melancholic, at first, featuring
a simple right-hand melody over arpeggiated chords played with
the left hand in a high register. The work shifts to other forms
that all suggest simple song-like melodies at the high end of
the scale, with varied accompaniments by the left hand. There
are sections that are more minimalist, others more impressionist,
but the work lacks any overall cohesion.

The Piano Concerto, The Solway Canal, is a large-scale
piece for piano, choir and orchestra. The solo piano never takes
on the role of soloist here, but rather, as the liner-notes
say “takes on the unexpected rôle of a guide instead, soberly
leading the orchestra and the choir into new territories of
colour.” Early on, the choir comes in singing words from the
Scottish poet Edwin Morgan, with the music becoming layered:
the piano as one layer, the orchestra another, and the choir
above them. There is no solo-tutti structure in this work, but
rather a flowing combination of the three. The work starts out
with a slow, one could say “flowing” tempo, and slowly increases
in speed after the first section with the choir. In this part,
the interplay between the piano and orchestra is very attractive,
yet unfulfilling; the music seems to have no clear direction.
A long section for piano and orchestra goes by, then the choir
returns, with a more romantic background. The piano plays constantly
here, driving a rhythm that conflicts with the slow chanting
of the choir. The music then becomes a bit confused - the liner-notes
suggest that this is somehow “reminiscent of works by Charles
Ives, or perhaps even Iannis Xenakis” - around the 18 minute
mark, when each of the three elements - piano, orchestra and
choir, seem headed in different directions. But that all stops,
the piano comes back in control, with sweeping, romantic riffs.
From here to the end, it’s piano and orchestra playing meandering
melodies, with the exception of a brief return of the choir.

As much as I like Gavin Bryars’ music - I recently reviewed
another disc of his, which contained a very moving work called
New York (review)
- I found it hard to get interested in these piano works. The
solo works lack overall form, and sound like they each just
contain a number of different, unrelated sections. In fact,
if I listen to this disc without paying attention, it’s hard
to tell where the first piece ends and the second begins. The
Piano Concerto is more interesting, once one realizes that it
is not a concerto, but something about it just doesn’t grab
me. It has its attractive bits, and its being a concerto without
the standard concerto form is interesting. But ultimately, there’s
something missing; it just doesn’t have enough direction to
keep my interest.

Kirk McElhearn
Kirk McElhearn writes about more than just music on his blog
Kirkville

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